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Battle of Poitiers
|result=Decisive English Victory |combatant1= England]] |combatant2= France |commander1= Edward, the Black Prince |commander2= Jean II of France captured Dauphin Charles Prince Philip |strength1= Estimated 2,000 archers 1,000 Gascon infantry 3,000 men-at-arms |strength2= Estimated 8,000 men-at-arms 3,000 infantry |casualties1=Minimal, estimated a few hundred |casualties2=Estimated 2,500 killed or wounded 2,000 captured Including: John II 17 lords 13 counts 5 viscounts 100 + knights }} The Battle of Poitiers was a major battle of the Hundred Years' War between England and France. The battle occurred on 19 September 1356 near Poitiers, France. Preceded by the Battle of Crécy in 1346, and followed by the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, it was the second of the three great English victories of the war. Background Edward, Prince of Wales (later known as the Black Prince), the eldest son of King Edward III, began a great chevauchée on 8 August 1356. He conducted many scorched earth raidsWilliam W. Lace, The Hundred Years' War ISBN 1-56006-233-9 ISBN 13 978-1560062332 1/1994 northwards from the English base in Aquitaine, in an effort to bolster his troops in central France, as well as to raid and ravage the countryside. His forces met little resistance, burning numerous towns to the ground and living off the land, until they reached the Loire River at Tours. They were unable to take the castle or burn the town due to a heavy downpour. This delay allowed John II, King of France, to attempt to catch Edward's army. The King, who had been besieging Breteuil in Normandy arranged the bulk of his army at Chartres to the north of the besieged Tours, dismissing approximately 15,000–20,000 of his lower-quality infantry to increase the speed of his forces.Jonathan Sumption, The Hundred Years War: Vol. 2: Trial by Fire (London: Faber, 2001), pp. 223, 227–228 Negotiations prior to the Battle of Poitiers There were negotiations before the battle of Poitiers that are recorded in the writings of the life of Sir John Chandos. He records the final moments of a meeting of both sides in an effort to avoid the bloody conflict at Poitiers. The extraordinary narrative occurred just before that battle and reads as follows: Nobles and men-at-arms who fought with the Black Prince Jean Froissart states these men as fighting as Poitiers: Earl of Warwick, the Earl of Suffolk; Earl of Salisbury, Earl of Oxford, Raynold Cobham, Lord Spencer, Lord James Audley, Lord Peter his brother, Lord Berkeley, Lord Basset, Lord Warin, Lord Delaware, Lord Manne, Lord Willoughby, Lord Bartholomew de Burghersh, Lord of Felton, Lord Richard of Pembroke, Lord Stephen of Cosington; Lord Bradetane and other Englishmen; Lord of Pommiers from Gascon, Lord of Languiran, the captal of Buch, Lord John of Caumont, Lord de Lesparre, Lord of Rauzan, Lord of Condon, Lord of Montferrand, the Lord of Landiras, Lord Soudic of Latrau and other (men-at-arms); from Hainowes, Lord Eustace d'Aubrecicourt; Lord John of Ghistelles, and two other strangers, Lord Daniel Pasele and Lord Denis of Amposta, a fortress in Catalonia.John Bourchier; G. C. Macaulay, Chronicles of Froissart, New York: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1948, p. 123Edward le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer also fought at Poitiers under The Black Prince.David Nicolle, Graham Turner, Poitiers 1356: The Capture of a King (U.K. Osprey Publishing, 2004), p. 10 Sir Thomas Felton fought not only at Poitiers but also at the Battle of Crécy. One of the chief commanders at both Crécy and Poitiers was John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, mentioned above.Edward Maunde Thompson, Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker, (Oxford at the Clarendon Press 1889) p. 248 Another account states that John of Ghistelles perished at the Battle of Crécy. Nobles and men-at-arms who fought with King Jean II at, or just prior to, the battle ]] Froissart describes, with less specificity in this passage, some of the nobles that were assembled at, or just prior to the Battle: The Englishmen were coasted by certain expert knights of France, who always made report to the king what the Englishmen did. The king came to the Haye in Touraine and his men had passed the river of Loire, some at the bridge of Orléans and some at Meung, at Saumur, at Blois, and at Tours and other places: they were in number a twenty thousand men of arms beside other. He estimates there were a twenty-six dukes and earls (Counts) and more than sixscore banners, and the four sons of the king, Duke Charles of Normandy, the Duke Louis, the Duke of Anjou, and John, Duke of Berry, and lord Philip.John Bourchier; G. C. Macaulay, Chronicles of Froissart, (New York Macmillan and Co., Ltd. 1948), p. 120 The French army also included a contingent of Scots commanded by Sir William Douglas.William F. Skene, John of Fordun’s Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, (Edinburgh Edmonston and Douglas 1872), p. 365 Douglas fought in the King's own Battle, but when the fight seemed over Douglas was dragged by his men from the melee. Froissart states that "... the Earl Douglas of Scotland, who fought a season valiantly, but when he saw the discomfiture he departed and saved himself; for in no wise would he be taken by the Englishmen, he would rather there be slain".John Bourchier; G. C. Macaulay, Chronicles of Froissart, (New York Macmillan and Co., Ltd. 1948), p. 126 Others who were either killed or captured at the actual Battle were as follows: King Jean II; Prince Philip (youngest son and progenitor of the House of Valois-Burgundy), Geoffroi de Charny, carrier of the Oriflamme, Peter I, Duke of Bourbon, Walter VI, Count of Brienne and Constable of France, Jean de Clermont, Marshal of France, Arnoul d'Audrehem, the Count of Eu, the Count of Marche and Ponthieu Jacques de Bourbon taken prisoner at the Battle and died 1361, the Count of Étampes, the Count of Tancarville, the Count of Dammartin, the Count of Joinville, Guillaume de Melun, Archbishop of Sens.John Bourchier; G. C. Macaulay, Chronicles of Froissart, (New York Macmillan and Co., Ltd. 1948), pp. 104–106Edward Maunde Thompson, Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker, (Oxford at the Clarendon Press 1889) p. 297 The battle At the beginning of the battle, the English removed their baggage train leading the French to think they were about to retreat which provoked a hasty charge by the French knights against the archers.William L. Urban, Medieval Mercenaries: The Business of War (London: Greenhill Books, 2006), p. 99 According to Froissart, the English attacked the enemy, especially the horses, with a shower of arrows. Geoffrey the Baker writes that the French armour was invulnerable to the English arrows, that the arrowheads either skidded off the armour or shattered on impact. Given the following actions of the archers, it seems likely Baker was correct. The armour on the horses was weaker on the sides and back, so the archers moved to the sides of the cavalry and shot the horses in the flanks. This was a popular method of stopping a cavalry charge, as a falling horse often destroyed the cohesion of the enemy's line. The results were devastating.D. Green, ''The Battle of Poitiers 1356, (Tempus Publishing, Charleston, S.C., 2002)Edward Maunde Thompson, Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker, (Oxford at the Clarendon Press 1889) p. 304 The Dauphin attacked Salisbury and pressed his advance in spite of heavy shot by the English archers and complications of running into the retreating vanguard of Clermont's force. Green suggests that the Dauphin had thousands of troops with him in this phase of the attack. He advanced to the English lines but ultimately fell back. The French were unable to penetrate the protective hedge the English were using. This phase of the attack lasted about two hours.Battle of Poitiers This cavalry attack was followed by infantry attack. The Dauphin's infantry engaged in heavy fighting, but withdrew to regroup. The next wave of infantry under Orléans, seeing that the Dauphin's men were not attacking, turned back and panicked. This stranded the forces led by the King himself. This was a formidable fighting force, and the English archers were running very low on arrows; the archers joined the infantry in the fight and some of both groups mounted horses to form an improvised cavalry. At about this time, King John sent two sons from the battlefield. His youngest son, Philip, stayed with him and fought at his side in the final phase of the battle. When the Dauphin and other sons withdrew, the duke of Orléans also withdrew. Combat was hard, but the Black Prince still had a mobile reserve hidden in the woods, commanded by Jean de Grailly, the Captal de Buch; which was able to circle around and attack the French in the flank and rear. The French were fearful of encirclement and attempted to flee. King John was captured with his immediate entourage only after a memorable resistance.Edward Maunde Thompson, Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker, (Oxford at the Clarendon Press 1889) p. 308 Amongst the notable captured or killed according to Froissart were: * King Jean II of France, captured. * Prince Philip, the King's youngest son and progenitor of the House of Valois-Burgundy, captured * Peter I, Duke of Bourbon, killed. * Walter VI, Count of Brienne and Constable of France, killed. * Jean de Clermont, Marshal of France, killed * Arnoul d'Audrehem, Marshal of France, captured. * The Count of Eu, wounded and captured. * The Count of Marche and Ponthieu, captured. * The Count of Étampes, captured. * The Count of Tancarville, captured. * The Count of Dammartin, captured. * The Count of Joinville, captured. * Guillaume de Melun, Archbishop of Sens, captured * Geoffroi de Charny, carrier of the Oriflamme, killed. The capture of the French king Froissart again gives us a vivid description of the capture of King Jean II and his youngest son in this passage: Aftermath of the battle As Edward, the Black Prince, wrote shortly afterward in a letter to the people of London: See also Ransom of King John II of France. Aftermath in France Jean de Venette, a Carmelite friar and medieval chronicler vividly describes the chaos in France which he states he himself witnessed, after the time of this Battle.Jean Birdsall, Richard A. Newhall, The Chronicles of Jean de Venette '' (Columbia University Press 1953) p. 1 He states: Jean is referring here not only to the French Nobles, but to the Companies who also plundered the peasants and Churches.Jean Birdsall, Richard A. Newhall, ''The Chronicles of Jean de Venette '' (Columbia University Press 1953) 1356 References Sources *Belloc, Hilaire (1913). [http://www.archive.org/details/poitiers00belluoft ''Poitiers], London: H. Rees. Via Internet Archive. * * * * Further reading *Cornwell, Bernard: 1356, HarperCollins, 2012. ISBN 978-0007478200. * Christian Cameron, The Ill-Made Knight, Orion, 2013. External links *[http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/chandos_pope.pdf The Chandos Herald: Life of the Black Prince] includes a detailed account of the Battle of Poitiers. * [http://www.archive.org/stream/chronicleromance00froiuoft#page/n1/mode/2up Froissart: The Chronicles of Poitiers (eBook) including "The Battle of Poitiers"] in Charles W. Elliot (ed.): Chronicle and Romance: Froissart, Malory, Holinshed, 1910, The Harvard Classics. ISBN 9780766181885. *[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/froissart1.html On The Hundred Years War, a primary source written by Jean Froissart] *Great Battles: The Battle of Poitiers (myArmoury.com article) Category:1356 in France Poitiers 1356 Category:Conflicts in 1356 Category:History of Poitiers